Clark Kent
1976 - 1999 Few people would believe that the mild-mannered reporter Clark Kent was born on another planet under the name Kal-El. The so-called "Last Son of Krypton" was saved from his dying planet, Krypton, by means of a spaceship designed by his father, Jor-El. The spacecraft was small enough to allow it to be undetected by the rogue A.I. "Brainiac" that was responsible for the unstabilizing of the planet's core. Crash landing on the planet Earth in the midst of a meteor shower in Smallville, Kansas, Kal-El was taken in by wholesome farmers, Jonathan & Martha Kent, who covered up the alien ship's landing and raised Kal-El as their own son, adopting him under the name Clark Kent. Jonathan Kent instilled Clark with a solid work ethic and a belief that all people were inherently good; while Martha insisted that Clark keeps his alien heritage a secret at all costs as she was afraid he would be taken away if the truth were discovered. Clark discovered his super strength and from then on, he would only discover more abilities as his body developed under Earth's gravity in the light of the yellow sun. By the time he was a teenager, Clark had gained super speed, x-ray vision, heat vision, and was nigh-invulnerable to nearly all forms of damage. While he was a student of Smallville High, Clark also had a brief friendship with a young Lex Luthor, after Clark saved the billionaire's life during a chance encounter. With the help of his parents and a few trusted friends (not including Lex Luthor) Clark managed to get through high school without any exposure and attended college at Metropolis University on an academic scholarship. It was while at college that Clark Kent met Lois Lane. After college, Clark and Lois were selected as the Daily Planet's two interns and were initially competing for a single job opening. Due to the appearance of nearby Gotham City's vigilante Batman, both interns were challenged by Daily Planet editor-in-chief Perry White to go to Gotham and write the better story on the Batman. Clark lost to Lois and instead had to find a job at Metropolitan Online. Still, Clark's visit to Gotham would prove to change his life (and the world)... 1999 - Present Day After his visit to Gotham, Clark found himself fascinated by the idea that a single man could enact so much change by becoming a symbol. When Clark returned home to Smallville for the funeral of his adopted father, Jonathan Kent, Clark felt compelled to become a symbol of hope to properly honor the greatest man he ever knew. Seeing this desire in her son, Martha Kent decided to give Clark an alien key which she had kept hidden all those years. "It's in the root cellar," were the words that would begin Clark's journey. Upon reactivating the ship that had brought him to Earth, Clark learned the Kryptonian language and the location of an ancient Kryptonian Outpost buried in the Arctic. Clark would, in turn, use the base's resources to better hone his powers and learn of his Kryptonian heritage (unaware that by accessing the outpost, he had alerted the A.I. 'Brainiac' to his presence). With an understanding of Kryptonians and a snazzy costume (with the Kryptonian symbol for hope & the House of El), Clark debuted Superman to the world by rescuing an airplane caught in a blizzard. With the picture of a man in a cape carrying a 747 to the ground like Atlas holding up the world, Superman had won America's hearts (and scored Jimmy Olsen a Pulitzer). After Clark wrote an article on the subject of hope in the modern world, Perry White recruited Clark back to the Daily Planet, pairing him with his former rival, Lois Lane, who had become very interested in Superman. On Christmas Day, 2003, Clark revealed his identity as Superman to Lois; just in time for an assault by Brainiac's robotic legion on Washington, D.C.. Brainiac was repelled New Year's Day, 2004 by Clark and six other heroes, who would later become known as the Justice League of America. With the birth of the Justice League, Lex Luthor came forward as being against Superman (and is now very successfully running for the U.S. Presidency on that platform), focusing his ire on Superman specifically. In 2009, with the Justice League on the verge of being reinstated under a U.N. Charter, Clark Kent and Lois Lane were married (before enjoying a honeymoon in the Fortress of Solitude).